For basic needs and even some gaming, I think there are quite a few options out there in your price range.

First off, if you are willing to take a refurbished or used model, you're going to have a lot more options. If not, you will still find some but just not as much variety.

As far as HP goes, in my personal experience with a number of HP products, they tend to be cheap for a reason. I would probably try to avoid them.

I've also recently used some Lenovo products and I would stay way from those as well.

I have a Toshiba and as far as I know they have always been ranked among the top laptop brands. I would certainly recommend this brand to you, specifically something in the satellite series.

While I don't personally have that much knowledge about 2-in-1 models, I think they can be very convenient and light weight but you may lose some of the power for gaming and you certainly will miss out on the screen size.

Here are a few suggestions:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-C55-B5202-16-inch-Processor/dp/B00KYY3KR2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408837074&sr=8-1&keywords=toshiba+laptops

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-C55-B5298-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00KF4980Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408837074&sr=8-2&keywords=toshiba+laptops

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-C55D-B5212-15-6-Laptop/dp/B00LMN0TNC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1408837074&sr=8-3&keywords=toshiba+laptops

Sorry I rated you low accidentally!

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